


yell my lungs right out my mouth

by catsinouterspace



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Ficlet, Gen, Heavy Angst, Naruto Kills Sasuke, Naruto's pov, Shock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 07:37:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19459402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsinouterspace/pseuds/catsinouterspace
Summary: The rhythmic thud, thud, thud, of his heart filled his ears. Naruto could fill the blood pulse around his body with every beat, each one nearly deafening. The rest of the world was a blank slate governed only by the ever-steady pounding of his heart.





	yell my lungs right out my mouth

The rhythmic _thud, thud, thud,_ of his heart filled his ears. Naruto could fill the blood pulse around his body with every beat, each one nearly deafening. The rest of the world was a blank slate governed only by the ever-steady pounding of his heart.

He felt something being wrapped around his shoulders, his body vaguely registering the heaviness of something draped upon him.

Naruto could hear yelling, but it must be from another troop, miles and miles away from where he was. Where exactly that was, he wasn’t entirely sure. The area around him looked like it had previously been part of a beautiful forest but now trees lay around him, half burnt, most laying on the forest ground. The trunks themselves were as wide as he was tall, before they fell they must have stretched up forever into the sky. Naruto wondered how long it took to grow a tree that big, wondered if the forest would ever be as grand as it once must have been. The yelling continued and he felt his body being forcefully swayed from side to side. He’s brain registered it but he didn’t think to respond, couldn’t think due to the deafeningly loud _thud, thud, thud_ of his heart. Another yell, from someone else this time, and the swaying instantly stopped.

Naruto felt wetness touching his knees. He turned his head down to look at it; the movement of his neck taking monumental effort. Where he knelt on the ground a pool of shiny red liquid had spread, staining his clothing in magnificent crimson. He reached his palm out towards the ground to touch the red; his hand coming away covered in the sticky substance. It was unnaturally warm. He stared at his hand, as the liquid dripped down his arm and fell back to the ground, leaving trails of red from his hand to his elbow. Naruto turned his head again to follow the pool, each movement as difficult as learning the rasengan had been. The liquid came from a crumpled lifeless form, the white and purple fabric doing nothing to obscure the blood seeping from it.

The thudding in his head continued, ever consistent in its rhythm, but now another noise filled the air. Naruto had no idea where the wailing scream was coming from, it sounded like someone yelling from the beach while he was scuba diving off the coast. _Thud, thud, thud._ The beat never even thought to stutter even as the blood curdling cry continued to fill the forest air. Who was making that noise? He wanted to ask, wanted to reach out to Sakura, or Kakashi, or even Sai, but he couldn’t force himself to make words even as he tried to picture his lips moving to form each individual syllable.

There was a pause in the sound. The silence that graced the forest in that moment felt like a glass of ice cold water on a summer day. Naruto found himself gasping for air, his throat hoarse. _Oh._ Had it been him all this time? He found his vision of the body in front of him obscured, he wanted to move, to stand up, or at least crane his neck so he could see what he had done but he was too exhausted to do so. It felt as though if he tried to move his entire body would crumple to the ground too.

He tried, instead, to focus his eyes on the new figure in front of him. Strawberry hair framed wide green eyes, crinkled with concern. Her lips were moving in time with the far-off voices. Something about needing to focus. Naruto had never been good at focusing, always the type to jump head first into something, but right now he was having trouble even getting his head to move.

 _Shock._ The word came up a few times, he wasn’t quite sure what to tie it too thoug; it floated through the forest, like a balloon, pausing as it hit a branch, but it didn’t remain there long enough for him to grab it and bring it back down, instead continuing its journey out into the atmosphere and out of site.

 _It was so red._ His head was pushed back up from where it had dropped to look at the puddle he was still knelt in, so his eye level was once again the same as Sakura’s, forced to study her wide and worried eyes. “Can you hear me?”

She’d definitely asked that question before but this was the first-time Naruto had registered it in time to respond. He dropped his head down to the ground, but didn’t let himself stare at the blood for too long, instead raising his head back up to her. The simple gesture of nodding made his body feel so much more tired that it had been.

A flicker of relief appeared on her face. “Can you stand?”

 _Could he stand?_ Naruto wasn’t sure. He didn’t feel like he was in any pain. He didn’t feel anything. He forced himself to focus enough to wriggle his toes, assuring himself that his legs were still attached to his body, before nodding an affirmative. Again, refusing to let himself get lost in the crimson pool as his eyes glanced downwards.

“Okay.” Sakura moved upward, never to the side, never allowing Naruto to view the body he knew was a mere ten feet from him. She reached out her hands to grab his. Naruto faltered as he saw the blood on his hands, even the one he hadn’t dipped in the pool.

“I killed him.” His voice was soft enough that Sakura could barely make it out but it was the first bit of dialogue that Naruto heard clearly; as though someone yelled it in his ear.

“Naruto, please.” Sakura sounded close to tears as she pulled his hands up, forcing him to stand, he stumbled forward a step, before she caught him. Let her hold him upright. Naruto heard her talking about needing to get back to the village, about medical ninjutsu, about Kakashi going ahead, but the words flowed over him like waves. Upright now he was taller than Sakura and could see the body again. _Sasuke’s body._ He told himself and just attaching the name to the lifeless corpse felt like a stab in the gut, felt as though he too would soon be lying unmoving on the forest floor.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I just want more fics where Sasuke dies (I LOVE him, but I want him to suffer, I also LOVE Naruto but I want some hardcore angst and grieving on his part) I plan on eventually writing an actual long fic with this concept rather than just a short snippet of a moment but when that will happen is ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


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